Ore leaching apparatus



Sept. 27, 1938. H. s. COE

ORE LEAGHING APPARATUS 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed- March 22, 1937 I INVENTOR. #arr/sof? .5. 60e

ATTORNEY.

Sept. 27, 193s.- HSCOE 2,131,166

ORE LEACHING APPARATUS Filed March 2z, 1937 :s sheets-sheet 2 WWW m46 INVENTOR.

#arr/'fon j, Coq BY ATTORNEY.

Sept. 27, 1938. s, COE 2,131,166

ORE LEACHING APPARATUS Filed March 22, 1937 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. #arr/50H 5. Coe

BY @JM ATTORNEY.

Patented Sept. 27, 1938 UNITEDV STATES PATENT v 2,131,166 ORE LEAcmNG ArrARA'rUs Harrison S. Coe, Palo Alto, Calif.

` Applicatioamamhzz.1937, serial No. Y1.22.32()

` u 6 Claims. (Cl. 23-272-)f This invention relates generally .to thefre-l covery of Values from ores. More particularlyit relates to leaching systems and methods, wherein a mass of properly comminuted ore is. subjected to the action of a solvent liquid applied to its upper surface, and which as .it ,passes down through the mass of ore`dissolves andtransports the desired values, and is finally recovered as a lter eiiiuent from which the desired values are removed.V Y

It is a general'object of the invention to provide a` leaching system and method making possible the treatment of large quantities of ore, without the use of conventional leaching tanks,

l5 thus making possible low cost recovery of values,

with a minimum amount of equipment and invested capital. In carrying out my system and method, a type of leaching is employed wherein the treatment is carried Yout with a large part of the mass of ore in a sub-saturated condition,

and which has been termed trickle leaching.

Another object of the invention is toprovide a novelsystem or apparatus wherein the preparation of a large bed of ore for treatment is facilitated, and which will afford adequate drainage of effluent from all parts of the bed.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational View, partly in cross-section, showing apparatus in accordanceY with the present invention.

Fig. 2 isa plan view of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1, with parts removed kfrom various areas, for the sake of clarity.Y

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 2, and on an enlarged scale.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3, but showing a possible modication.

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional detail taken along the line 5-5 of Fig. 2, and on an enlarged scale.

Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional detail similar to the right hand portion of Fig. 5, but showing a possible modification.

Fig. 7 is a plan view of one of the wall sections, used in supporting the sides of the ore bed.

Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional View taken along the line 8-8 of Fig. "I,

Fig. 9 is a side elevational View in cross-section, showing a modified form of ore bed.

Fig. 10 is a plan view of theuarrangement shown 5o in Fig. 9, portions being broken away.

` Fig. 11 is a cross-sectional detail taken along the line Il-II of Fig. 10.

The present invention makes use of a membrane placed upon a prepared ground surface,

and upon which an extended bed'of ore is placed.

Novel means are"provided, overlyingjlille?H I brane and at thebottomof theore bed.'y for ade;V1- quately draining away effluent from' all parts rof the jbed and into asuitable eliluent receiviiig means. vThe leaching solution is applied prog5l gressively to diiferent sections Vof the'top of the bed, in suchk aAmanner that; all parts f'tl'iemassare adequately contacted with tlieleacliing solution, the degree of saturationwithinthe'ore mass 'being properly cntrolledto afford rriaiii-Q- 10,. mum leaching efliciency with a inii'iimumamount of solution. '7.... Referring now to'Figs. 1 and 2 ofthe draw#4 ings, there is'shownva preparedground' surface lll, which is coveredV by aumembranefll and'v 15 sloped to form a shallowvpan.v Above this meinbrane'is an ore bed l2, the sides ofwhichare' sustained bythe 'wall sections '|3.Vr fConta'iner i4 is for` the purpose' of. receiving Veiiiuent',""and con-'L nects lwith the drainage pipe I6.. 20

' As a desirable 'materialfor forming the-membrane `I I, I'inak'eu'se of an inexpensive material which may be somewhat permeable 'to yliquidsi under fsubstantialpressure, but which "is Tpr'a'cti-* cally impervious `toV liquidsv under relatively lowf 25 pressure heads. I'have particularre'ference to? sheets of4 impregnated" fibrous material, 'fais for.` example y asphaltic impregnated" roong felt. Strips ofV this material are shown laid'overthe prepared ground surface, with overlapping 'edges' 30 (see areaA of Fig. 2) The side edges ofthe pre 11,-. pared'ground areal "are "shown provided with raised curbs over which theistrips of felt may extend@ j To enablefd'rainage o f effluent from all partsof l35 the bottom of the bed, I peie'rablymake use of 1:25. a porous layer I1 .(Fig. 1 and middle stippledarea of Fig. 2) of suitable material, such as coarsel filter sand, or granular ore solids substantially y free ofV slime particles'.l This porous layer is laid 40 directly upon the membrane I I, and is interposed between the membrane and the bottom of the ore bed. vA porous layer of this vcharacter enables lateral flow oflicluidv trickling down from theore bed, in a direction depending upon the slope of `4,5 the underlyingground surface. InV additionto i the porous layer l1, I preferably make use offa system' of drainage conduits into' which solution seeping through the porouslayer IL may Aflowl Thus primary drain-age troughs-2li,V 2l, 22'andi23 50 areprovided, which can be formed'substantially as illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6'. Each troughis disposed in an inverted position, to form'afdrain`` age passage 2'6 within the porous layer Y"I'IL Spacedlstrips 21 (Figs. 2 .and 5) are shown 55 inserted under the lower edges of the troughs, in order to prevent damage to underlying areas of the membrane I I.

In order to prevent entrance of sand or ore solids into passages 26, porous material such as strips of cloth or burlap 28 can be placed over the troughs, with the edges of the strips underlying the porous bed II. In the arrangement of Fig. 6 the porous layer IIis of substantial depth in order to avoid the use ofsecondary drainage troughs or conduits underlying the ore bed. I-Iowever, in the arrangement of Figs. 1, 2 and 5, the

porous layer I'I is say from 1/2 to 2 inches thick',

and secondary drainage troughs 3| to 34 inclusive,

are provided. 'I'hese troughs are placed in inverted position upon the porous layer I'I. To prevent entrance of solids intoy the passages 36, afforded by these troughs, the troughs can be wrapped with burlap 31 (Fig. 3), or like porous f medium; f Anjalternative arrangement is illustrated in Fig. 4, in which the secondary troughsl are laid upon burlap strips 38, overlying the poris shown laid over troughs 22 and 23 and the adjacent ends of troughs 32, 33 and 34. Solution drainingthrough passages 36 can therefore readily iind its way into the passages 26, and sand or solids cannot block such communication. It will be evident that other structural details can be provided, to alford a conduit drainage system commensurate with the extent of the ore bed.

'Ihe side wall sections I3 are formed as illustrated in Figs. 7 and 8. Each wall section is provided with inwardly extending anchoring surfaces I3,which'are braced by a webbing 46. As the ore is applied these wall sections are placed in position, andthe weight of the bed. of ore upon anchoringV members I3,- retains Ythem` in proper position to withstand side pressure. It will be noted that the' wall `sections are not only spaced 'g vertically,` but are also offsetvlaterally, whereby treatment liquidpassing downwardly through the ore bed, may not ooze from the side walls.

'The-top surface of, the ore bed is preferably divided into a number of compartments 48, by

t means y'of small dams 49. In'practice the compartments 48 can be about 4 inches in depth, and

they serve to receive thetreatment solution, as will be 'presently explained. Y

In preparing the apparatus described above to form a bed of ore to be treated, the procedure is as follows:-A'suitable ground area is smoothed and lsloped'towards convenient centers of drainage, where the eluent container VI4 is provided. Alongareas where drainage troughs are to be laid, the ground may be hollowed out somewhat, substantially as illustrated in Fig; 5. This prepared ground surface is now covered with strips of'asphaltic impregnated roofing felt, with the edges of the strip overlapping. l A double thickness of roofing felt canbe laid over the areas `upon which the primary troughs are v to be placed. Strips` Il are now laid in proper positions, and the primary troughs placed upon these strips. A layer of coarse filter sand, or granular ore solids "z substantially free of slime particles, is now applied over 'the asphaltic impregnated roong felt, to a thickness of say 1/2 of an inch. The surface ofthis `porous layer can then be covered with biirlap strips, and the secondary troughs applied,

or'the .secondaryf troughs 1 can be wrapped in 'burlap and then laid upon thelayer of sand, substantially as previously described. Burlap is also placed over the ends'of the secondary troughs to:

complete the drainage system.

Suitable comminuted ore to be leached is now placed upon the drainage system. In handling large quantities. of ore suitable land moving machines, such as tractors equipped with bulldozers,

completed the surface is levelled and the dams 49 formed, to afford the compartments 48. The

' apparatus is now ready for the leaching operation, which may be carried out more or less continuously over a period of several days, or several vweeks, depending upon the size of the ore body,

bel'pointed out however that in using cyanidesolution for extracting gold and silver,.provisiorrv must befmade for maintaining alkalinity of the solution, and this can best be done by mixing dry lime with the comminuted the ore bed is prepared.

The operator now floods the compartments 48 successively and in predetermined order," with predetermined quantities of the cyanide solution. In the flooding of compartments and during lthe initial period' of absorption, the surface ofthe ore is stirred or agitated to cause a suspension of the liner material and the formation of-a surfacecake. This will serve to avoid channelling of the solution, or ilow of the solution downwardly ,through shrinkage cracks, and in general willvaiordproper penetration and uniform downwardpenetration such as is conducive to eiilcient extraction.

Eachcha'rge of solution applied to a particular compartment or section of the ore bed, is much less than that required.. to .completely saturate the bed of ore for its entire depth. For example where a bed of ore is about 8 feet in depth, good results are secured by applying the solution in ore, at the time charges which will form. a temporary solution pool of say one inch depth on the surface of the bed, the charges'` being applied twogor three times each twenty-four hours. More specifically, in treating an 8 foot bed of ore having a total surface area of 2,300 square feet, divided into sectionsl or compartments each having an area of about 256 square feet, good results have been secured by applying about 15 tons of cyanide solution per day, applied progressively to the various sections, with each section receiving two washes per day.

Application of solution in the manner described above produces a novel and efficient type of leaching. In practice no drainage will occur from the bottom of the bed until several charges of solution have been applied. After the entire depth of the ore bed has been wetted, a drainage I have reference to one in which voids and interstices are substantially `iillec'i with solution whereby there is very little if any capillary effect.

The boundaries of this zone, as it progresses` downwardly'through the ore bed are not sharply defined, since there is a region of transition from this zone to adjacent Yregions of subsaturation. By subsaturation I have reference to the presence of a solution to anl extent insuiicient to iill the larger voids. Under such conditions drainage is retarded or minimized by capillary eifects from above and isaccelerated by said eiect from below said saturated zone. There fore the saturated zone moves downward under the acton of gravity on its fluid content, at a rate determined by the laws of frictional flow under pressure. Since one factor determining the pressure Vin a saturated zone is the depth of the zone, which in turn is governed directly by the depth of solution applied in one application, the rate of movement of the more highly saturated zones in the bed is subject to contro-l by controlling the amount of solution in the charge which forms the same. Because of the relatively small amount of solution used for each charge and because of the time interval intervening between successive charges, the zone can be pictured as a strata of substantially complete saturation travelling slowly down through the ore bed, and having a general depth which is a minor fraction of the total depth o-f the ore bed, as for example a strata about one foot in depth where the ore bed is eight feet in height. Where the ore bed is of sufcient depth the charges of solution can be and preferably are applied at such intervals as to have two or more of such zones moving downwardly through the ore, and separated by a region or regions of subsaturation. ,y

The significance of the above, with respect to leaching emciency, is that solution in the downwardly moving zones of complete saturation, displaces the fluid adhering' to particles in the underlying regions of subsaturation, which solution contains values leached from the ore. A condition of subsaturation is conducive to efflcient leaching action, due to presence of air in the interstices, and other factors favorable to dissolution of values.

When a zone of complete saturation reaches the lower portion of the ore bed it causes a small iiuid head upon the membrane Il, which is not sufcient to occasion any material leakage, but which is suicient to cause lateral flow of effluent into the drainage system. The slope afforded for the ground surface on which the ore bed is placed, prevents building up of fluid heads at any point on the membrane Il), and particularly in regions along the sides of the bed. Thus the pan afforded by the sloped ground surface can be comparatively shallow, and the edges of this pan, formed in this instance by curb l5, need only be of sufficient height to avoid any spillover of solution. In practice the sides of the ground surface can be relatively low, and in no event need be greater than the depth of the previously mentioned zones of complete saturation.

Pebbles and granules from the overlying porous layer H, are pressed into the upper surface of the asphaltic impregnated roofing felt, thus in effect materially reducing the Yarea of the roofing felt which is directly exposed to the solution. This serves to materially reduce any tendency for the solution to leak through the felt in addition to the fact that the felt itself is relatively impervious under low fluid heads.

By utilizing the apparatus and 'method of this invention all conventional leaching tanks are unnecessary and at the same time there is no mate-J rial sacrifice in the efficiency of extraction and recovery of desired values. A minimum amount of labor is required, and the ore moving operations can be carried out by standard and readily'availy able machinery. The asphaltic impregnated roofing felt or like sheeting employed for the membrane Il, is relatively inexpensive, but highly practical for the purposes desired. Overlaps between strips of this'material afford tight seals irrespective of irregularities of the ground surface on which the strips are laid. Likewise the ilexibility and give afforded by such material precludes tearing in conforming to irregularities, and avoids formation of wrinkles of such a character as to permit leakage between the overlapped edges of the strips. i

It will be evident that the drainage system can be modied to suit various conditions `orrequirements. For example eflluent may not be delivered to eluent sump i4, but may be delivered to one or more pipes or launders, leading to the exterior of the ore bed. Also in certain instances all sides of the ore bed may not require support, in which event the wall sections I3 may be used on say only two sides of the bed.

A modication is illustrated in Figs. 9 and 10, which is particularly convenient when handling large amounts of ore with a tractor and bulldozer. In moving the ore to the bed 5l, a ramp 52 is employed and the tractor and bulldozer operate over this ramp to dump successive charges of ore. Instead of building up a bed of uniform depth, the ore is deposited to provide an inclined ramp-like surface over which the tractor operates. By way of illustration the back side of the bed may be built up to from 10 to 20 feet in depth, while the front side may be from 5 to 10 feet in depth. As the ore is deposited, wall sections are put in place to form a back wall 53, and to also form side walls. The top surface is then terraced and additional walls installed to form the different surface levels 54a, 54h, 54e and 54d. The dams 49 are then provided as in Fig. 1.

The ground surface for the modified arrangement of Figs. 9 and 10 can be sloped in any desired direction, provided the slope is such as to cause lateral flow of solution to one or more points of removal of eilluent. The drainage system can be simplied to constitute merely troughs or like members 56, corresponding to the troughs 2| of Fig. 6, and which connect with the separate sumps 51.

It will be evident that the arrangement of Figs. 9 and 10 is well adapted for treatment of large masses of readily friable ore solids, such as tailings which previously have been treated by recovery processes, and which can be readily moved upon a prepared ground surface by bulldozer equipment.

I claim: y

1. In a leaching system of the character described, a bed of ore of substantial depth, and a plurality of wall sections forming at least one side wall of the bed, the sections being spaced vertically and staggered laterally, each section being provided with anchoring elements extending into the interior of the bed, whereby each section is self-supporting.

impervious membrane laid thereon, a bed of porous granular material disposed on said membrane, and a drainage channel embedded in said granular material and positioned substantially parallel with and adjacent to said membrane.

3. In a leaching system of the character described, a sloped ground surface terminating at its periphery in a curb, a substantially impervious membrane disposed on said surface and extending to the top of said curb, a bed of porous granular material laid upon said membrane, a drainage channel embedded in said granular material and positioned substantially parallel with and adjacent to said membrane, fluid conducting means disposed beneath said membrane and passing outward under said curb, and a vent in said membrane communicating with the fluid conducting means.

4. In an apparatus for the leaching of ore, a supporting ground surface, a substantially impervious membrane extending above said ground surface, a layer of porous granular material above said impervious layer, and drainage channels spaced at intervals through said pervious layer and above said impervious layer.

5. In an apparatus for the leaching of ore, a sloped ground surface, a substantially impervious membrane extending above said ground surface, a layer of porous granular material above said impervious layer, and drainage channels spaced at intervals' through said impervious layer and above said impervious layer, the ends of certain Y of said channels terminating near the lowermost HARRISON S. COE. 

